Youth-led organisations you should support this Anti-Racism Day

Black Lives Matter London protest, 6 June 2020


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21 March marks the UN international Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The day is observed each year to commemorate the day South African police shot and killed 69 people at a peaceful anti-apartheid protest.

Although the system of apartheid has since been dismantled in South Africa, people and communities across the globe continue to be impacted by racism in all its forms. The international rise in hate against East and Southeast Asian people over the course of the pandemic shows us that racism is far from being eliminated.

The theme of this year’s anti-racism day is “youth standing up against racism”. It’s in honour of the young people who rose up against systems of racist oppression following the killing of George Floyd in summer 2020.

Here are some of the most exciting organisations led by young People of Colour in the UK. They’re fighting against racist oppression in our education, justice, and immigration systems, working towards climate justice, and uplifting young Black LGBTQI+ people and girls of colour.

Education
No More Exclusions focuses on fighting racism, abolishing school exclusions, and creating a free and fair education system:

Similarly, No Lost Causes also works to bring about institutional change in education:

Meanwhile, the Black Curriculum works to challenge injustice in education. It does this by teaching young people about Black British history through the arts: 

And Fill in the Blanks is “a campaign led by students from former British colonies seeking to mandate the teaching of colonial history”:

Whereas A Tribe Named Athari is group of young people working towards ‘Black liberation and racial justice through healing, direct action and radical education’:

Justice

Kids of Colour works to challenge institutional racism in young people’s lives by campaigning for anti-racist education and police abolition. Its latest campaign is in collaboration with the Northern Police Monitoring Project. The campaign challenges the harmful presence of police in Manchester’s schools:

ICFree campaigns against the criminalisation of young Londoners of Colour in schools and the justice system: 

And the 4Front Project works to empower marginalised young people ‘to fight for justice, peace, and freedom’ in their communities and beyond:

Remember & Resist seeks to “expand abolitonist practice and thinking” in the UK’s East and Southeast Asian communities:

Climate justice
Wretched of the Earth is a grassroots collection of young People of Colour working towards climate justice in the UK and beyond:

Meanwhile, Choked Up is a group of young People of Colour living in areas affected by air pollution. They’re working to manifest their right to clean air:

And People & Planet is a “student network fighting for climate, worker and migrant justice from UK universities”:

Migration
We Belong is a group of young migrants in the UK working towards “a shorter, more affordable route to settlement”:

LGBTQI+ rights
BLAQUK is the first Black LGBTQI+ organisation led by young people:

Exist Loudly works to support and uplift queer Black youth by “creating spaces of joy and community” in the UK:

Gender
Integrate UK is a Bristol-based based charity working towards racial and gender equality:

Milk Honey Bees creates safe spaces for Black girls to heal and thrive:

Hair discrimination
The Halo Code is a group of Black students that’s working to destigmatise afro hair in schools:

And the Halo Collective works to end hair discrimination in UK schools and workplaces:

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination presents the perfect opportunity. We can all start uplifting the next generation of change-makers in the UK who are working to eliminate racism.

Featured image via James Eades/Unsplash

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